


No Respawn

by AlwaysWrong



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-19
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-02 02:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysWrong/pseuds/AlwaysWrong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems like only yesterday that the world was in order. Only yesterday people were waking up to go to their mundane jobs or to school, wandering around naïve of the things that were in their all to near future. This isn’t a game, there are no do-over’s if you die. The dead aren’t staying dead and humans are fighting for survival and connections are the key to survival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gavin was tired and struggling to keep his eyes open as he sat in the backseat of Geoff’s Jeep. Griffon was in the passenger seat, singing quietly along to the radio.

The three had had a long day at the river, goofing around while tubing in the rapids. It was getting late, but the sun was hanging low in the sky, refusing to set.

The closer they got back to Austin, the worse the traffic got. They were just outside the city, when traffic came to a standstill. Cars were stopped for at least half a mile before the off ramp into the city.

"Are we almost back home?" Gavin asked, fidgeting in his seat.

"Yeah, we’ll be home in ten minutes." Geoff told the teenager. "If we ever get out of this traffic jam."

"Why are we stuck in traffic?" Gavin whined, staring out the window at the cars in the next lane as they began slowing to a stop.

"I don’t know, Gav. If I did, I would tell you." he responded, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Griffon started flipping through the radio stations, stopping on a station where people were talking.

_"—lost 14 to 13. Can you believe that, Allen—"_

Griffon flipped the station again.

_"—and the petition to change the legislative vote on—"_

Griffon changed to another talk radio station.

"Grif, what are you doing?" Geoff asked.

"I’m trying to see if any station is talking about this traffic jam. Maybe a pipe broke or something." she shrugged, changing the stations again.

_"—engagement is off between Miley and—"_

Griffon hit the power button, turning off the radio. “I can’t believe nobody is talking about this.”

"Maybe it’s just a crash in the middle of the road and they aren’t talking about it because it’s nothing serious." Gavin put in.

"I don’t care, we’ve been sitting here for ten minutes. There better be a dead body somewhere." Geoff sad, putting the car in park.

Geoff stepped out of the Jeep and started walking up a few feet. He wasn’t the only one out of their car, trying to see what was happening. Geoff stopped next to a car a few yards ahead of them. The driver of the car was standing in the open door. The two started talking.

A motorcycle cop was driving slowly down the shoulder of the road. He was stopping at everyone who was outside their vehicles. Geoff started talking to the cop, before stalking back to the Jeep.

"Well?" Griffon asked, when he slammed the door.

"All the cop said was to get back in my vehicle." he said, his temper rising. "I’m tired of this, we’re just going to take the back way home."

Geoff worked to get the Jeep out of the lane, with a lot of switching between drive and reverse, and some driving in the ditch along side the highway.

Taking the back way took twice as long as driving through town would have, but it got them out of the traffic jam. By the time they got back to the house Geoff was annoyed and Gavin was asleep in the backseat.

"Don’t worry. I can get everything." Griffon said as Geoff stalked up the driveway.

Griffon shook Gavin awake and carried their dirty towels and empty cooler inside.

-

Gavin sat in the desk chair in Geoff’s office, playing some stupid computer game he found. Geoff was sitting at the conference table, surrounded by papers.

"Hello? Ramsey’s office." Gavin said, picking up the ringing phone.

"What have I said about answering my phone, kiddo?" Geoff said, walking over to the lad.

"You said not to. But it’s just Griffon." he whined, pushing Geoff’s hand away as he reached for the phone.

"Give the phone to Geoff, Gav." Griffon told him.

"Fine." Gavin pouted, holding out the phone.

Geoff took the phone and motioned for Gavin to get out of his chair. Gavin moved from the chair and went over to the papers that covered the table, attempting to read over them. Most of them were about grown up things that he didn’t care about.

Bored with the uninteresting papers, Gavin walked over to the white board on the wall and started doodling.

"Griffon, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing…Not for a few hours…" Geoff said, running his fingers through his hair. "Griffon…Okay, I’ll see what I can do…Yeah, love you too."

Geoff hung up the phone and started cleaning up the papers from the table.

"What’s wrong?" Gavin asked, capping the marker.

"Griffon saw something on the news and is freaking out pretty bad. Wants us back home incase something happens." Geoff said, looking up. "Erase the dicks off my board."

Gavin cleaned off the boarded and grabbed his backpack from the corner. Geoff gathered his few things and the two headed out of the building.

"Something seems off." Gavin said, staring out the window as Geoff headed for the house.

"We’ll check the news when we get home." the man responded absentmindedly. "I’m sure everything is fine."

The highway was all but deserted, just one or two other cars speeding down the road. There was a semi truck sitting in the shoulder of the road. Gavin tried to see if there was a driver, but Geoff was going to fast for him to see anything.

Geoff took the off ramp too fast, causing Gavin to get pressed up against the door.

"I thought you said things were fine." he said, holding on to the handle above the door.

"Things are fine. But my wife is freaking out. I would like to get home to her, just incase something is wrong." he said.

A few minutes later, Geoff was pulling into the driveway. He yanked the keys from the ignition and was up the front porch steps before Gavin was out of the car.

Griffon was sitting on the edge of the couch, clutching the remote, as the news played on the TV. Geoff sat down on the arm of the couch and took the remote from her, changing from one news station to another. Gavin walked into the house and dropped down on the couch.

_"—of random acts of violence and mass murders from all over the city. The details are a bit sketchy right now and there is no official statement from the police as to what is happening. But we will continue to bring you breaking coverage on this story as we get it into the station—"_

"Riots." Geoff said, gripping Griffon’s shoulder.

"It’s not just local news, Geoff." she said, taking the remote back and changing the channel to CNN.

_"—what could only be described as bloody, deranged people attacking and biting bystanders. Reports similar to this are coming in from all over the country. New York City, Seattle, Lost Angeles, Reno, and so many others. We still have no specific answers as to what is happening—"_

"Geoff, something is seriously wrong." she said, muting the TV. "I could show you more reports. This…whatever is happening, it’s all the news stations are talking about."

"Well…we’ve got plenty of food. We’ll just hunker down and see what the reporters and the government has to say." Geoff said, rubbing her shoulder. "I can get my guns from the basement if that will make you feel any better."

"It would. Just incase someone comes around." she said, standing up and closing the front door. "Lock the doors, close the windows, draw the curtains. We are not home if anyone asks."

Geoff nodded and headed for the basement. Griffon went around the house making sure the windows were shut and drawing the curtains. Gavin stayed on the couch, flipping from news station to news station.

"I don’t think we’re desperate enough to listen to what the retards at Fox have to say." Geoff said, leaning his rifle against the back of the couch. He set his pistol on the end table and sat down on the arm of the couch again, taking the remote from Gavin.

"Do you…do you think whatever’s happening is worldwide?" Gavin asked nervously, wringing his hands.

"I don’t know, Gav." he said, as Griffon came back into the living room. "The only thing we can do right now is wait."


	2. Chapter 2

Ray didn’t think anything of the riots that were happening. He was used to the violence in New York City. He just kept his head down but his eyes up as he walked from the subway station to his apartment in the Lower East Side.

There were less riots there. But it was clear that some shit had happened while he was at school. A car was crashed into an apartment building. A lot of windows of stores were broken down. There was blood in pools and in lines on the sidewalks and in the street.

Ray became a little scared when he saw a man hunched over in an alley near his building. He was kneeling in a pool of blood and it looked like he was chewing on the body that was lying on the ground.

Ray picked up his pace and head into his building. glad to see that his building was almost unharmed by the riots. Nobody would break into their apartment during riots anyway, the building was too crappy.

The blood on the floor in the lobby and in the stairwell leading made him nervous. He ignored the blood because it stopped on the third floor and he lived on the fifth.

The front door to his apartment was cracked, but Ray thought nothing of it as he walked inside. He was about to yell to his mother, to tell her he was home when he heard something coming from the kitchen. He pushed the kitchen door open a crack, and saw a gruesome sight.

A man covered in blood was kneeling on the ground, surrounded by blood. Lying underneath the man was a woman with long black hair, matter with blood and tied up in a red bandana. It was his mother.

Ray stumbled back a few steps, watching the door swing slowly when he let it go. He covered his mouth with his hand to keep any sound from coming out. He could feel the tears running down his cheeks.

Ray tried his best to be beyond quiet as he snuck into his mom’s room. He pulled his lockbox down from the top of her closet and used the key under her bedside lamp to open it. He took out her pistol and the extra magazine and dumped the box on his bed.

Ray went to his room and shoved some clothes into his bag. As a last minute thought he grabbed the framed picture of him and his mom at the beach last summer and shoved it in his bag. He yanked his jacket off the back of his desk chair, accidently knocking the chair over in the process.

He froze, listening hard and praying that the man in the kitchen hadn’t heard. He heard something move in the kitchen. He grabbed his backpack, the gun, and his jacket and snuck out his window, down the fire escape into the alley behind his apartment.

-

_"…The CDC believes that the cause of the crisis is a germ or a virus with a mind altering effect. All roads and freeways are jammed with people trying to leave the cities. The government has urged all citizen to stay in their homes and lock their doors until the situation is contained. It is believed that if bitten by the infect, the bitten will obtain the virus…"_

Michael had seen the reports on the news about the riots. He had gotten texts from some of his friends and coworkers telling them what is happening, like he didn’t already know. The riots and the crazed people were all over the news. No matter what station he changed to they were all covering it. It seemed to be happening everywhere.

Michael was scared. That’s why he was packing up some of his things to skip town. He had been wanting an excuse to get out of New Jersey anyway, and the riots seemed like a good enough excuse.

Michael knew he should have been heading to someplace to lie low for a while, but instead he was on the interstate heading for New York City. He was worried about his friend Ray and his mom. The two were alone and in a bad part of the city and would probably need a ride out of the city.

It wasn’t surprising to find the roads leading out of New York packed with car. What was surprising was that all of the cars were empty. People were rushing nervously in the shoulder of the road, out of the tunnel, clinging to their bags and to the people the were with. Most of them were bloody and clutching some form of weapon.

Michael parked his car in the shoulder of the road, grabbed his pistol from his backpack and the flashlight from the glove box and headed for the dark Holland Tunnel.

Michael kept his flashlight on the ground as he made his way around the cars in the tunnel. He had expected more cars, but there surprisingly weren’t many, just a few cars here and there. A few of the cars had been crashed into each other or the walls. He could hear people in the tunnel and saw some figures in the light at the other entrance of the tunnel.

Michael froze and turned off his flashlight when he heard a noise. He didn’t care if it was a person or someone with the virus; he didn’t want anyone knowing he was there. His eyes adjusted slowly and he kept making his way forward, his hand on his gun.

He made his way around a car and smacked into someone. Pain radiated through his chin as stumbled back a few steps, frantically turning on his flashlight.

_Does he have the virus? Am I going to die? No! I am not going to fucking die!_

He pointed his gun at the person. He saw the other raise his gun, his hand shaking as he pointed the gun at Michael’s chest. Both of them started angrily yelling at each other.

"Have you been bitten?!"

"Are you clean?"

"I’m clean!"

"I’m fucking clean!"

"Prove it!" They both yelled, yanking off their shirts.

Flashlights danced across their naked torsos, searching for bite marks. Michael froze when he realized how familiar that voice sounded.

"Ray?" he asked, shining the light in the boy’s face. Relief flooded through him as he grabbed his friend’s shoulder, jerking him into a hug.

"I was coming to look for you." Ray said, relief in his voice. He wrapped his arms around Michael. "I was scared you were dead."

"I was coming to look for you." Michael said. "Where’s your mom?"

"…She wasn’t home." he responded after a moment of hesitation. "Where are your parents?"

"Do you really think I care?"

"No…God, this is gay." Ray said pulling away from Michael.

Michael grabbed his shirt off the ground and pulled it on. Ray did the same.

"Come on, little one. My car is just outside the tunnel." Michael said, putting an arm around Ray.


	3. Chapter 3

_Day 3. The CDC has finally opened up and shared some new information with us. After working long and hard on the victims of the virus, very little has actually been learned. The virus is spread through the exchange of fluids. Bites seem to be the most common. But it spreads through any exchange of fluids from the infected, open wounds, mouth, or eyes._

Griffon shut off the news, not wanting to hear anything else. All the stations were relaying the same thing anyway. A few channels still had regularly scheduled programming, but most were shut down.

She stood up and peeked through a crack in the curtains on the front picture window. The street looked the same as it did the day before. A car was crashed into the phone pole on the corner. Blood was in a line down the road and a dead body was lying on the street corner, chewed to beyond recognition.

Griffon could hear people moving around upstairs and hoped that it was Geoff waking up. She hated being the only one awake in the morning now.

"Morning, Grif." Jack said, coming down the stairs.

"Morning." she responded with a smile. "There’s coffee in the kitchen."

Jack was Geoff’s old army buddy and long time friend. The day before Jack had shown up at the backdoor with a backpack slung over his shoulder, a pistol in his hand, and blood splattered across his clothes. Having another man who knew how to use a gun calmed Griffon down, to some extent.

Gavin was the next one down the stairs, still dressed in his pajamas and rubbing his eyes. He dropped down on to the couch and curled up in on himself.

"Why come downstairs if you are just going to go back to sleep?" Griffon asked, scratching his head with her nails.

"I got scared. I heard something." he yawned, looking up at her with tired eyes.

"There’s nothing to be scared of, sweetie." she said, sitting down by his head. "We’ve got Jack and Geoff and they won’t let anything bad happen to us."

Gavin nodded, moving so his head rested in her lap.

Jack walked into the living room, cup of coffee in hand, and dropped down into the chair on the other side of the room.

"Any new news?" Jack asked.

"The CDC is finally talking. But they hadn’t got much to say. Only that the virus is passed on through the exchange of fluids. Mainly bites though." she told him, still scratching at Gavin’s scalp.

"Nothing about prevention or an antivirus?" he asked.

"Nothing at all about it. The bite thing is all that was released." she sighed.

"Grif, I’m hungry." Gavin spoke up.

"We’ve got some cereal. But not much else for breakfast." she said "Today was supposed to be grocery day."

Gavin pushed himself off the couch and headed for the kitchen. Griffon got up as well and headed upstairs.

Geoff was still sprawled across his side of the bed, sleeping when she walked into their bedroom. She dropped down beside him and rubbed his back, waking him up.

"Why am I awake?" Geoff groaned, rolling over. His upper body rested on Griffon’s thighs.

"We need food. We haven’t got much." Griffon said, not bothering to beat around the bush. "I want you and Jack to go into town and get some food and other things."

"Okay, I’m awake now." Geoff said, scrubbing his hands down his face. "I didn’t get all of that. What were you saying I needed to do?"

"You need to go into town and get some food and other things we need." she said again.

"Are you serious? You want me to leave the house? You want me to leave you here alone? That’s not gonna happen." he told her, shaking his head.

"I’ll be fine. I’ll just keep doing like we’ve been doing. You and Jack go into town. I’ll make a list of the things we need. You two will be as fast and as careful as you can." she told him. "You will leave one of your guns here though."

Geoff sat up and faced Griffon, taking her hands. “I’m not comfortable with this. I don’t want you here alone.”

"I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Gavin."

"Because Gavin is so much help. Grif, he’s nineteen. He might as well be our son."

"I can look after him. And I know how to shoot incase anything happens while you’re gone."

"Fine." Geoff said reluctantly, knowing he wouldn’t win the argument.

"Thank you." Griffon smiled, leaning in and giving him a kiss. "I’ll make up a list. Get what you can off of it."

-

Jack wasn’t to pleased when Geoff told him they would be going into town. He had been through the mayhem the day before when he made his way to the Ramsey’s. He knew the dangers that awaited them.

The two dressed in clothes that covered the majority of their bodies, had their guns tucked away in a easily reachable spot, and headed for the car.

The roads from their suburb into town was beyond deserted. There were a few crashed cars and the reminisce of a car that had once been on fire on the road. Geoff spent most of the short drive in the grass on the side of the road, or navigating between crashes.

Downtown was much worse than the neighborhoods. There were a lot of blocked off streets and so many dead bodies lying on the pavement.

Geoff parked his in the back parking lot of the store and the two headed in with caution. The store was ransacked. Broken glass covered the floor, some shelves were knocked over, and things were scattered all over. There were a few dead bodies lying around and blood strewn across the walls and floor.

"Get what you can." Geoff told Jack, picking up an over turned cart.

Geoff tried to be quick and quiet as he loaded the cart with bottled water, canned foods, batteries of every kind, toilet paper, and whatever else he found that Griffon had wrote down. Jack did the same with the other side of the store.

"This can’t be right." Jack said as they headed back to the car. "It’s too quiet."

"Don’t say that. That’s when shit hits the fan." Geoff said, loading up the back of the Jeep.

"There are thousands of people who live around here." Jack started, loading his things into the truck. "Where are they? Even if they are infected. They have to be somewhere."

"Right now, I don’t care, brother." Geoff said, pushing the cart away from the car and shutting the door. "I just want to get back to my wife in one piece."

Jack looked around as he closed the truck. He had expected things to still be chaotic and overrun like they had been the day before, but it was dead. There was no way in hell that the police had contained the contamination.

"Let’s look around for a minute." Jack said, grabbing Geoff’s arm. "Just to see if we can find anyone."

"I want to get back to my wife." Geoff argued.

"It’ll just be a minute. Real quick. We’ll just go down this street. See if we see anyone."

"Fine." he groaned.

Jack led the way down the street, deeper into town. As they walked, sounds could be heard. Groans and moans mostly, with the occasional sound of a door being weakly pounded on.

"Okay, there’s nobody. Let’s go back." Geoff said, pulling his pistol out of the holster on his hip.

"I just want to check it out. Give me two seconds." Jack said, waving away Geoff’s worries. He pulled his pistol from his holster and kept walking.

Geoff debated going back to the car and waiting for Jack there. But if something were to happen to him he would never forgive himself. He cursed under his breath and ran to catch up with Jack.

Jack walked at a bit of a quick pace, dancing around the cars in the road, checking down side streets and around barriers and blockades that the police had set up a few days ago. There wasn’t much to see. Just a few infected here and there and a whole lot of blood. Bullet casings littered the ground, along with bodies torn to shreds.

"There’s nobody. Let’s get back to the car before something happens." Geoff said, grabbing Jack’s wrist.

As if on cue, the groans and moans got louder. The two looked up, at the chain link fence that had been set up on one of the side streets. The infected were pressing themselves against the fence, groaning loudly as they tried to get through the fence to Jack and Geoff. The cement pillars that were holding the fence in place were leaning and in danger of falling as more and more of the infected pressed themselves against the fence and each other.

Geoff tugged on Jack’s wrist, pulling him back towards the Jeep. He let go of Jack once they were in the parking lot and climbed into the Jeep. Jack stood and watched the fence fall. Too many infected to count went pouring into the street, tripping over each other as they headed down the street.

"Jack, get the fuck in the car." Geoff snapped, starting the engine.

Once Jack was in the car, Geoff got back on the road, the tries screaming as they fought for traction. He sped up the road they had taken into town, not caring anymore about the one way streets or the speed limit. It was clear that there were no police around to ticket him.

Geoff turned into his driveway, killed the engine and headed in the backdoor. Jack was on his heels.

Griffon was in the kitchen before they heaven closed the door.

"How bad is it out there?" she asked, throwing her arms around Geoff.

"The neighborhoods aren’t no bad but there are only infected in town." he said, hugging her around the waist with one arm.

"It’s better than it was yesterday though." Jack put in. "But we just got a glimpse of everything. Most of downtown is blocked off and barricaded. It’s probably a lot worse than what little that we saw."

Gavin stood in the doorway of the kitchen, wringing his hands nervously as he listened to the adults talk.

"I want to leave, Geoff." Griffon said, walking over and putting a protective arm around Gavin.

"Where are we gonna go?" Jack asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I don’t know. I just don’t want to be in town any more." she said. "The lake maybe. Just somewhere out of dodge until this all blows over."

"I don’t think this is just going to blow over, Grif." Jack said.

"Gavin, go to your room." Geoff said quickly.

"What did I do?" he asked, looking offended.

"Nothing. But you don’t need to be part of this conversation. Now go." he said.

Gavin nodded and headed for the stairs. Jack opened his mouth to start talking again, but Geoff held up his hand. He waited until he could hear Gavin moving around upstairs before he put his hand down.

"This isn’t going to just blow over. There are too many infected. There are too many dead." Jack said.

"I want to get out of town." she asked, crossing her arms. "It sounds like things aren’t going to get any better around here. So let’s get out of town. Go up to the lake. It’s secluded enough. We’ll figure out what to do once we get there."

"Sounds like a plan to me. I don’t want to stay here either. Not with so many of the infected so close to us." Geoff agreed.

"I’ll go tell Gavin we’re leaving." Griffon said, turning out of the room. "I want to get Barbara before we leave though. I’m not going to leave her here alone."

"We’ll start gathering up what we need to take with us." Geoff volunteered, heading down into the basement.

"You gave into that decision pretty easy." Jack pointed out, following him downstairs.

"It’s not like I want to leave. This is my home. It’s the first place me and Grif got together. I always pictured raising my kids here." he started explaining, digging through the camping supplies piled along one of the basement walls.

"Instead you’re raising Gavin." Jack laughed, taking a storage tub from Geoff and setting it by the doorway.

"Not really raising."

"But raising. You’re acting like his parents while he’s in film school. he’s been living with you for almost two years."

"That isn’t the point. I don’t want to leave. This is my home." he said, handing another tub to Jack. "But if town is overrun with those…infected. It’s only a matter of time until they are here. I would rather leave now when we still I have the chance."


	4. Chapter 4

_I have just been informed that we are going off the air and the Emergency Broad Casting System will be taking over. I wish you all the best of luck._

That was the last broadcast that had been aired on any television station and it had aired almost a week ago, just two days into everything that had happened. Ryan had been monitoring the television and radio for the university.

As the head of the engineering department at the private university, the board had put him in charge of keeping everyone updated on the status of the crisis while  the deans worked to get students back to their homes and the microbiologist worked with the CDC to find out whatever they could about the infection.

For the first day and a half of the outbreak, the board was sending students home, believing that it would be safer for them to be home than to be on campus. That plan didn’t last very long. Soon the board was bringing in the uninfected from the town to take shelter in the university.

The university had become a safe zone for the few surrounding towns. People heard about it by word of mouth and soon all the dorms had been filled and people were being housed in the sports coliseum.

The university was over crowded. Most of the people who worked at the university were sleeping in their offices so they could get quickly back to work when they woke up and so others could live in their apartments.

Soon the university stopped announcing that they were a safe zone for the area. As the devastation in the area died down, people assumed that the worst was over and left.

Ryan had been listening to the radio transmissions and knew that things hadn’t gotten any better, but actually things got worse. More people were infected or dead than alive. There hadn’t been any news from the President since he and the cabinet were taken to a secret location for their own safety.

The population at the university dropped to just a few students who lived too far to go home, the microbiologists, a few engineers and the head of the university. The population in the town also started dropping. Those who hasn’t taken refuge on campus had become infected or killed. As people went back to town, they were overwhelmed by the infected.

Ryan tried to warn the people that it wasn’t safe in town, but they wouldn’t listen. He also tried to convince the head of the university to start transmitting over the radio that the campus was a safe zone. But they board wouldn’t listen. So Ryan took matters into his own hands.

_My name is Ryan Heywood. I am broadcasting to all AM frequencies. If anyone is out there listening, St. James University in South Carolina has been made into a safe zone. We have made walls around the campus to keep out the infected. We have food. We have shelter. We have security. If there is anybody alive out there, please. You are not alone._

Everyday, for an hour twice a day, Ryan sent out his transmission and waited for somebody to respond.


	5. Chapter 5

"Michael, where are we going?" Ray asked, picking at his eggs.

"I haven’t figured that part out yet." Michael responded, staring out the window above the stove where he was making eggs for himself.

The two had been driving for days. There were times when they stopped to get food or gas. Neither of them felt comfortable enough to find a hotel or a place to stay, so they would sleep in the truck parked on a back road somewhere.

The most recent place they found was a farm in the middle of Pennsylvania. The house was deserted and there wasn’t anybody around for miles.

Michael dumped his scrabbled eggs on to a plate with some toast and sat down at the wooden booth that was in the corner of the large kitchen.

"Eat, little one." Michael said, pointing his fork at Ray’s plate.

"We can’t stay here forever." Ray said, stabbing his fork into his eggs and putting them into his mouth.

"No, I know. I’m just trying to figure out what we can do." he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "There has to be someplace somewhere that’s safe. Right? This can’t just be it. They can’t just leave us to fend for ourselves. Right? The CDC must still be working to figure out what’s wrong with the infected. How to cure them or prevent getting the infected. Something. Anything."

"Are you expecting me to answer these questions?" Ray asked, looking up from his now empty plate.

"Are you done?" Michael asked, stuffing the last of his toast into his mouth.

Michael didn’t wait for an answer before he took Ray’s and his plates to the sink. He quickly washed the plates and forks and the frying pan and left them in the sink to dry.

Ray was still sitting in the booth, fiddling with the hem of his pajama shirt.

"Do you want to go play pool?" he asked.

"Go get dressed first. I’ll go rack up." Michael said, heading down into the basement where the owners of the house had a pool table.

Michael stepped around the Lego castle Ray was building and started pulling the balls out of the pockets in the table.

The owners of the house clearly had a lot of money. There were two HD TV’s in the house. One mounted on the wall in the living room. One mounted on the wall in the basement, which seemed to be a working project to be turned into a media room. Ray had gone through all the boxes that lined the walls of the basement the first day the stayed in the house and found a box completely filled with Lego’s.

Ray spent most of his time playing with Lego’s while Michael scoured the radios, internet, and television stations for any news about what was happening.

Michael finished setting up the game and turned on the stereo. Normally they would listen to the CD’s that were stacked on the shelves under the stereo. He turned the stereo to the radio and began flipping through stations. Like things had been for almost a week now, all that played was static. He changed the station.

"Let’s play." Ray said, hopping down the basement stairs.

Michael abandoned the radio, still playing static, and picked up a pool cue.

Ray shot first and got none of the balls in. Michael went and didn’t sink any balls either. While Ray lined up his next shot, Michael went over and fiddled with the radio. He didn’t expect to find anything, but he spent a lot of his time trying. He changed the station a few times.

_-into a safe zone. We have made walls around the campus to keep out the infected. We have food. We have shelter. We have security. If there is anybody alive out there, please. You are not alone._

"Michael?" Ray asked, straightening up.

"Yeah, I heard it." he said, turning the volume up on the radio. "Play again. Come on. Play it again."

Ray set his pool cue on the table and ran across the room.

_My name is Ryan Heywood. I am broadcasting to all AM frequencies. If anyone is out there listening, St. James University in South Carolina has been made into a safe zone. We have made walls around the campus to keep out the infected. We have food. We have shelter. We have security. If there is anybody alive out there, please. You are not alone._

"Ray, I think I know where we’re going now." Michael said, turning to Ray with a smile spread across his face.

"South Carolina." Ray smiled back.

"Let’s go pack up what we can and book it." He said, putting his hand on Ray’s back and headed for the stairs.

Within the hour Michael and Ray had loaded up the back of Michael’s SUV with everything they thought could need on the trip down to South Carolina. They had loaded up coolers and milk crates with all of the edible food that was in the house, which wasn’t much. Blanket, pillows, and things they could use weapons. Batteries, flashlights, camping supplies, an old camp stove. Ray even packed a suitcase full of Legos and stuffed it into the trunk.

"Do you really think it’s safe?" Ray asked, buckling his seatbelt.

"Of course. They wouldn’t be broadcasting for people to come if it wasn’t safe." Michael said, speeding down the dirt road.

-

"Fuck, we need gas." Michael groaned, looking at the gas gauge. "We’re running on E."

Michael looked over at Ray to find the lad fast asleep in the passenger seat. He turned off the highway into the town they were driving through. He drove slowly through the town, taking in the scene and memorizing the way back to the highway, as he looked for a gas station. The town looked dead. There were hardly any cars on the road, or in parking lots, like a lot of the big cities they had traveled through. It also seemed to be a college town. The campus was close to the highway and there were a lot of Greek houses lining the main street.

Michael found a gas station and was surprised to see no signs that said there wasn’t any gas left. He parked the truck at the pump closest to the building and headed inside.

"Hello?" he called out quietly.

When nobody answered, he hopped over the counter and typed into the cash register how much it was for a full tank of gas for the truck. He leaned against the truck, looking around while the tank filled. He wanted to look around the town, see if there was anybody or anything around or if the town was actually as deserted as it looked. He debated letting Ray sleep while he checked the town out, but decided against it, knowing that if Ray woke up and he wasn’t there, he would freak out.

"Ray. Wake up." Michael said, leaning across the center council and shaking the teenager. "We’re going to check out the town we’re in."

Ray sat up and glared at Michael.

"I know you want to sleep. But let’s go." he said, grabbing his backpack from the backseat.

Ray climbed out of the car and grabbed his backpack. “I don’t want to go. Can’t we just get back on the road. We’re not that far from South Carolina.”

"It’ won’t take that long." Michael said, grabbing his gun from the glove box.

Michael started walking down the street with Ray right behind him. The town was utterly empty, with just a few cars in the street. A lot of doors on the houses were left open and a lot of shop windows were broken.

They walked down the middle of the main road, into downtown. There things were just as empty, but a more chaotic empty. Cars were left in the middle of some of the streets. Buses were used as roadblocks and dried blood covered the sidewalks.

Ray whined and tugged on Michael’s arm. He pointed down an alleyway that had fence at one end. A group of at least twenty infected were standing in an alley, pressing against each other as they as more made their way into the alley from the  other end.

Ray tugged on Michael’s arm wanting to leave, but he resisted. He looked up at what the infected were trying to get. A girl with red hair was standing on the ladder building’s fire escape. Her shoulders with shaking as she cried and stared down into the infected. She reached up and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. It looked like she was going to let go of the ladder.

"Hey!" Michael screamed at the girl. "Keep climbing! We’ll meet you at the top."

Michael grabbed Ray’s wrist and tugged him into the building. Beside the elevators in the lobby of the building were the stairs. Michael tugged the door open and released Ray’s wrist, running up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. Ray struggled to keep up, but feel behind.

Michael burst through the door too the roof just as the girl was climbing up the last few rungs of the ladder. He grabbed her under her shoulders and hauled her on to the roof, falling back against the gravel, with her in his lap.

She gripped the front of his hoodie tightly, sobbing into his chest. Michael held her tightly, trying to catch his breath.

"It’s okay." he panted, stroking her hair. "I’ve got you."

"Is she okay?" Ray said, standing in the doorway, holding the door open.

"She’s fine." Michael responded.

They stayed like that for a few moments, while the boys caught their breath.

"I’m Lindsay." she said, pulling away from Michael enough to wipe her eyes with her wrist.

"I’m Michael." he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"I’m Ray." he called from where he still sat holding the door open.

Up close, Michael could see Lindsay’s blue eyes were puffy and red from crying and surrounded by black mascara tears. Her red hair was tied into a messy bun and was held back from her face with a black elastic headband. She was beautiful.

"Michael." Ray said, getting their attention. "We should get going. Before they realize that we’re up here."

"They won’t notice." Lindsay mumbled.

"Yeah, let’s get back to the car." he said, standing up, pulling Lindsay with him.

Ray led the way down the ten flights of stairs to the lobby. Michael kept an arm around Lindsay as they followed.

Michael and Ray set a fast pace once they were on the street, not waiting to get caught or followed by the infected. Lindsay kept  pace with them rather well, but wasn’t as quiet because of the sweater boots she was wearing.

"Ray, do you mind getting in the back?" Michael asked, unlocking the truck.

Ray shook his head and opened the back door. He shoved some things aside and climbed in.

"We’ll stop soon and make it better." he said, dropping into the passenger seat.

Lindsay climbed into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.

The ride out of town was dead silent. All of them too shaken up to want to try and make conversation.

Michael pulled into the first rest stop they came across, almost an hour outside of town.

"Bring me some of the things in the back. We can fit them back here." Michael said, standing at the trunk, pushing a few of the bags around. "Just need to get organized."

Ray came around to the back of the truck, holding their backpacks in one hand and balancing a milk crate with boxes of food on his hip.

"Lindsay, you hungry?" Michael called through the car, handing Ray a sleeve of crackers and bottle of juice.

"Yeah. I could eat." she answered.

Michael grabbed two more sleeves of crackers and tossed the empty box into the trash and grabbed two bottles of juice and headed to the front seat. He handed one of each to Lindsay and kept the other two for himself.

Lindsay set the food in her lap and rubbed her arms.

"Here." he said, reaching into the backseat.

He grabbed the extra hoodie he kept in the backseat and handed it to her. She pulled it on and zipped it up, thanking him with a smile before tearing into the food.

"We’re headed to South Carolina." Ray mumbled around the food in his mouth as Michael pulled back on to the highway. "There’s a safe zone there."

-

It was late and dark when they crossed into South Carolina. Ray was fast asleep and snoring softly in the backseat. It seemed that Lindsay was asleep too.

Michael had put in one of his CD’s to fill the silence in the car as he kept driving. He was tried but determined to get to the safe zone  so he could sleep in peace for once without worrying if Ray was going to be okay or if they were going to get swarmed by the infected.

"Michael?" Lindsay asked quietly.

"Hmm?" he grunted as a response.

"Why did you help me?" she asked.

"It’s the end of the world. If you’re human, you’re my family."


	6. Chapter 6

Geoff stood on the back porch at the cabin, looking over the lake. It was a beautiful view. The leaves were just starting to change colour, the lake was still and crystal clear, and the sun was just starting to rise in the West.

The cabin at the lake had belonged to his parents who left it to him when he died. He had be bringing Griffon up here almost every summer since they started getting serious back in high school. So many happy memories were associated with the lake. Learning how to swim with his younger brother in the lake. Building fires, fishing, making s’mores. Teaching his little brother about the stars and constellations. Breaking his nose from running into the sliding glass door. Running away to the lake. Sneaking off with groups of friends in the middle of summer. Proposing to Griffon on the dock.

Under any other circumstances, he would have been perfectly happy and content spending a week at the lake. But they weren’t not at the lake for fun. They were there for safety. The cabin was rather deep into the woods and secluded. There were only two other cabins at the lake, and they were only occupied in the summer months, by renters.

He could hear noises coming through the open sliding glass door. A few minutes later Jack was standing next to him, setting two cups of coffee on the wooden railing. Geoff took the cup closest to him and took a drink. Black coffee, just the way he liked it, from years in the military. Jack still took his with sugar and milk.

"We need to leave." Jack said, drumming his fingers nervously on the railing. "We’re running low on everything."

"That means we need to go into town. Not leave. So far, it’s safe here. There is nobody around for miles." Geoff pointed out, still staring down at the lake. "We’ll make a run later today. Get what we can and then some."

"If you’re going into town, so am I." Griffon said, stepping on to the porch.

"No." Geoff said instantly. "I don’t want you out there. I want you where I know you’re safe."

"And I want you where you’re safe." she argued, crossing her arms and walking over to the men. "If you’re going out, so am I. I’m not going to sit around waiting for you to come home. What if something happens to you? What if there are people in town, taking people to a safe zone or something and they won’t let you come back? I’m going with you, Geoffrey."

"I won’t let anything happen to me. I have years of training to keep me safe incase something does happen." he said, turning to face her. "And if there are people taking people to a safe zone and won’t let me come get you. Then I won’t go. I would never leave you behind. I would rather be in the middle of everything with you than in a safe zone without you."

"I would leave you." Jack put in. "I would leave both of you."

"Thanks, Jack." Geoff deadpanned

"Just here to help." Jack smiled, heading back inside.

"I’m going." Griffon said, bringing the conversation back to her.

"What about Gavin?"

"What about him?"

"We can’t just leave him here by himself. He’d freak out and end up hurting himself."

"I doubt that. He’d be just fine here by himself. It would only be for a few hours."

"Grif, do you know who we’re talking about? We’re talking about Gavin Free. The lad who got his finger stuck in a desk. The lad who is convinced the world didn’t exist before he was born."

"Okay, you have a point. But he would be fine for a few hours while we were in town."

"He wouldn’t be okay with it though. He made me sleep with him last night because he got scared. If he knows we’re going into town, he’s going to want to come too."

"Looks like we’re _all_ going into town.” Griffon said turning on her heel and walking into the cabin.

-

Gavin seemed oblivious to what was happening as they drove through the woods into the town. In retrospect it was a good thing, the less that Gavin knew the better. The lad was already scared from what he had been hearing on the news reports and the little that he had seen of the infected when they left Austin.

Geoff on the other hand was nervous. He had made two runs for supplies with Jack and it had been fine. But he knew that Jack could hold his own if anything did happen. As he drove into town, all he could think about was if something happened and he couldn’t get to Griffon or Gavin, what would happen to them.

It was reassuring that there were no visible infected as they drove into town. There were a few dead bodies and a whole lot of dried blood, but nothing that caused them.

The town was small and there wasn’t much to see or do. There was a small bait and tackle shop, an even smaller diner, a gas station with only two gas pumps, a pub, and a small grocery store with firewood stacked along the front wall. A few houses dotted the hill across the road from everything. It was a drive-through town if there ever had been one. The last stop before entering the woods and the wilderness.

Geoff parked the car on the side of street and turned back to face Gavin and Griffon.

"Gavin, I want you to stay close to me. I don’t want you wandering off. Even if it does seem like things are safe, I don’t want you out of my sight. Got it?" he said, firmly.

Gavin nodded, fidgeting nervously with his seatbelt.

"Grif, I would prefer it if you stayed near me too, but I know you won’t. So, please, I beg of you, be careful." he said, holding a hand gun out to Griffon. "Don’t be afraid to protect yourself."

Gavin looked away from the gun as if someone was pointing at it. Griffon took the gun and made sure the safety was on.

"Let’s go." he said, climbing out of the car.

Jack headed in one direction, up the hill, and Griffon headed in the other. Geoff grabbed Gavin’s arm and headed into the grocery store. A few shelves were knocked over and a lot of things were smashed on the floor, but other than that, everything was intact. Seeing as there were barely twenty people living in this town, there wasn’t much distraction that could happen.

"Do we have to pay for this stuff?" Gavin asked, taking the cart that Geoff pushed towards him.

"It’s called looting, Gav." Geoff explained as he stacked cans of food in his cart. "There’s nobody around for us to pay."

"But—"

"Don’t question it, Gav. Just load up with whatever food you can find." he said, tossing some things into Gavin’s cart.

The two loaded up the carts with all the canned and boxed foods they could find, along with every case of bottled water there was in the store, candles, batteries, flashlights, and a few other things they thought they would need. Most of the fresh things in the store were too old to grab or smashed on the floor.

"And you didn’t want us here why? There’s nothing and nobody around." Gavin said, walking down the street as Geoff finished loaded up the trunk of the Jeep.

"Gavin, get back here." he said, trying not to raise his voice too much.

"I’m just right here. I can still see you." the teen insisted, as he continued walking down the road.

Geoff dumped the last of the things they grabbed into the trunk and pushed the carts back towards the building. He could see Gavin wandering down the street, staring up the hill as he walked. Geoff leaned against the front bumper of his Jeep and watched Gavin while keeping an eye on everything else.

Jack had been back to the Jeep. There were a few gas tanks and a cardboard box filled with unopened bottles of alcohol sitting beside the back tire. Geoff filled the tank with one of the gas tanks and stored the other in the trunk along with the box of booze bottles.

"Boo." Griffon said, walking up behind. "I figured we could go fishing up at the lake."

Geoff turned around and saw what Griffon was talking about. She had a milk crate balanced on her hip, filled with constrainers of bait and holding a tackle box in the same hand. She held three fishing poles in the other.

"I suck at fish. All I catch is weeds." he laughed, opening the trunk.

"Well, that’s why you have me." she teased, easing the poles into the trunk. "I catch the fish. I can clean the fish. And you can cook it."

Geoff opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get anything out a gunshot rang out. Griffon let out a scream and quickly covered her mouth with both hands.

"Stay here." he told her, grabbing his pistol from the hostler on his hip and took off running down the street, towards the sound of the gunshot.

Another shot rang out as Geoff rounded the corner of the gas station. Gavin was lying in the grass with a dead body beside him and another a few feet away. Jack stood on the pavement, pistol in hand, scanning the trees.

"What the fuck happened?" Geoff snapped, taking his finger off the trigger and dropping down next to Gavin.

The teenager had blood strewn across his clothes and was visibly trembling.

"Are you okay?" he asked, running his hands over he boys arm, checking for any bites or other wounds.

Gavin nodded.

"I thought I told you not to wander off." he said, hugging the teen to his chest. "What were you thinking? I told you it wasn’t safe. What would you have done if Jack wasn’t there?"

Geoff pulled away and looked own at Gavin. His lower lip was trembling as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Hey, hey. You’re fine." Geoff said, the anger leaving his voice completely. He held Gavin close and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. "Jack was there to protect you. You’re fine now. I’m here."

Gavin nodded against the man’s chest, a sob escaping his lips.

"We’re fine, Gavin. You’re safe." he said, glancing around. Jack was still standing guard, scanning around them, pistol in hand. "We’re gonna go back to the cabin. We’re gonna make some lunch. We’re gonna be fine."

Gavin nodded again, wiping his eyes with his wrist. Geoff stood up and helped Gavin to his feet. The lad was trembling so much he could barely stand.

Geoff holstered his gun, put one arm behind Gavin’s back, the other under his knees and easily picked the lad up. Gavin wrapped his arm around Geoff’s neck and buried his face in his shoulder, the occasional sob coming from him.

"Thanks for looking out for him, brother." he said to Jack as they walked back for the Jeep.

Geoff looked around and couldn’t see Griffon anywhere. His heart sped up.

"Grif!" he hollered.

"I’m right here." she yelled back, stepping out of the Jeep. "What was wit the shooting?"

"Everything’s fine. There was just a little incident." Jack said, climbing into the driver seat.

Geoff went to put Gavin in the backseat, but the lad wouldn’t let go of him.

"Is Gav okay?" she asked, worry eminent in her voice.

"Just a little shaken up." he said, climbing into the backseat with the lad.

Griffon buckled herself into the passenger seat and Jack started the Jeep.

Geoff buckled Gavin into the middle seat and buckled himself up as well. Gavin kept his face buried in Geoff’s shoulder.

"I’m sorry." the lad mumbled.

"For what?" Geoff asked, rubbing between his shoulders.

"For wandering off when you told me not to."

"Gavin, it’s fine. I’m not mad. I’m just glad you’re not hurt. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you."


	7. Chapter 7

Michael had parked his truck on the top of the hill that looked into the town of Snider. Somewhere around the town was St. James college, the only safe zone they had heard about.

He was leaning against the front bumper of the truck, staring down into the town. He could see a lot of lights coming from streetlights and houses. He wondered if the whole town of Snider was the safe zone or if only the college was.

"What are we waiting for?" Lindsay asked, climbing out of the truck.

She wrapped Michael’s hoodie tighter around her, hugging herself. She walked around the truck and stood beside him.

"Just looking." he said, pushing away from the truck. "Let’s go. We’re almost there and I want to get there before Ray wakes up."

The two climbed back in the truck and Michael started driving into town. The town looked like a warzone. So many doors and windows of houses were broken. Dead bodies were lying on front lawns. The truck tires left tracks in the blood on the street.

Michael was glad that Ray was asleep so he wouldn’t have to see what had happened. He wondered how there were so many people dead in town if there was a safe zone just a few miles away. They probably didn’t make it into a safe zone before it was too late.

Michael parked the car in the lot and looked around at the surrounding buildings, trying to figure out where to go,

"There." Lindsay said, pointing at a building not too far from where they were parked. "It’s the only outside light that’s on."

"Do you want me to go knock?" he teased unbuckling his seatbelt.

"How else do _you_ suggest we let him know we’re here.” Lindsay teased back.

"Wait here with Ray. I’m gonna go check it out." he said, climbing out of the truck.

Lindsay watched as Michael jogged across the parking lot and disappeared through the door. Once the door was shut, the silence became very eminent. All Lindsay could think about was the infected coming out of the trees that surrounded the campus and surrounding the car, trapping her inside.

She felt her pulse speed up and tried to control her breathing. She kept looking at the trees, as if any moment the infected would come spiriting out of the dark.

What was taking Michael so long? He should have been back by now. She should have just gone in with him. Ray wouldn’t even notice if they were gone. He was fast asleep in the back anyway.

"Hey." Michael said, opening the door to the truck.

Lindsay let out a scream and covered her mouth.

"You okay?" he asked, pulling the keys from the ignition.

Lindsay nodded, putting her hands in her lap.

"Alright. Well, we can stay here. Ryan’s setting up a few of the dorm rooms for us. Would you mind grabbing a few things from the back?"

She shook her head and followed Michael around to the back of the truck. She grabbed a few pillows and blankets and stacked them on a milk crate that was half filled with food.

Michael threw his backpack over his shoulder and shook Ray awake.

"Come on, little one." he said, putting his arm around Ray’s shoulders. "We’ve got a safe place to sleep tonight."

Ray didn’t seem awake enough to be concerned about where they were staying. Michael left Ray’s bag in the car, figuring he would get it in the morning with everything else and led the way towards the building.

In the building, he led them up to the third floor. Ryan was leaving a room at the end of the hall.

"I’ve cleaned these rooms out for you." Ryan said, setting a garbage bag against the wall. He gestured at the room he just walked out of and the two across the hall.

"Thanks again for this." Michael said, holding Ray tightly to his side as the lad started to fall back to sleep. "This is Ray. And Lindsay."

"Nice to meet you." Ryan smiled. "It’s late. We can go through introductions and everything in the morning. You should get some sleep. My lab is on the second floor, that’s where I’ll be if you need anything."

"Thank you, Ryan." Lindsay spoke up as the man walked away.

Michael walked into one of the rooms and laid Ray down on the bed. He took Ray’s glasses off and set them on the nightstand. He took off the lad’s shoes and then covered him with a blanket that Lindsay held out to him.

"Sleep tight, little one. I’m right across the hall if you need me."

Michael was relieved to be sleeping in a safe place for once. Ray as fast asleep in the bed across the hall. Lindsay was asleep in the room next to his. They were safe.

-

Michael wasn’t sure what had woken him up. It was early, really early and he had just fallen asleep a few hours ago. But he had this sickening feeling in his gut that he needed to be awake.

He tugged his jeans back on and padded into the hallway. He squinted against the lights in the hall and realized he didn’t have his glasses on. He could see a person rounding the corner at the end of the hall. He figured it was just Ryan and went back to get his glasses.

Michael grabbed his glasses and checked on Lindsay and Ray. They were both still fast asleep. He headed back to his room and dropped back down on to his bed. He wanted to go back to sleep, but whatever woke him up, that feeling was still in his stomach, keeping him awake.

He heard a loud thud, and laughed. Ray was prone to falling out of bed. he climbed out of bed and headed for Ray’s room. Ray was still in bed, curled up with his back to the door.

He turned around and left the room. At the end of the hall a few infected were stumbling over each other at they climbed the stairs into the hall. Michael gasped and ducked back into Ray’s room. He pushed the door almost closed and crept across the room, covering Ray’s mouth with one hand and shaking the lad awake.

"Get your shoes on. We have to go. Now." Michael said, taking his hand away and handing Ray his glasses.

"What’s happening?" Ray mumbled, sliding his glasses on.

"We need to go. Be quite okay." he whispered, slowly opening the door.

Michael checked down the hall before dashing across to Lindsay’s room.

"Lindsay, get up. We gotta go." he said, shaking her gently.

"No, it’s time for sleep." she argued, rolling away from him.

"No, it’s time to run." he snapped quietly. "Infected are in the building. We gotta go. _Now_.”

Lindsay shot up with a gasp, knocking her head against Michael’s in her haste to stand up.

"Ow." she groaned, pulling her boots on. "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine." he groaned, standing up. "Stay quiet and follow me. I need to get my shoes."

Michael looked into the hallway and snuck into his room. Lindsay followed closely behind him, holding tightly to the back of his shirt. Michael tugged his shoes on and threw his backpack over his shoulder. Ray was standing in the doorway of his room, glaring at Michael.

 Michael put a finger to his lips and glanced down the hall. The infected still seemed to be oblivious to them. He snuck out of the room and Ray and Lindsay followed.

They were almost to the stairwell at the end of the wall when Michael heard a thud behind them.

"Ow." Ray mumbled, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

Michael looked up just at the infected at the end of the hall did. He shoved Lindsay through the stairwell door and grabbed the back of Ray’s hoodie, dragging him to his feet and into the stairwell.

"We can’t go down. Look." Lindsay whispered, pointing down the stairs.

A few floors below them the infected were slowly making teir way up the stairs.

"Go up. Go up." he ordered, nodding at the stairs.

He got a better grip on the back of Ray’s hoodie and put a hand on Lindsay’s back as they ran up the stairs.

"We can’t just keep going up." Ray panted, slowing down after they had run up two floors. "We’ll just be trapped."

"There has to be another exit." Michael muttered, pushing open the door to the hallway. "Come on."

Michael jogged quickly down the hall. He could feel Lindsay holding on to the back of his shirt. He slowed when they reached the end of the hall and peaked around the corner.

"Look, stairs." Lindsay said, point at the exit sign.

Michael reached back and took her hand. The looked down the stairwell before they headed moved. Infected were making their way quickly up the stairs.

"Go up. Every building has a fire escape from the roof." Lindsay said, rushing towards the stairs.

They ran up the stairs, trying to take them quickly. But the higher they ran, the heavier their footsteps got. They were panting and struggling to catch their breath when they burst through the door on to the roof.

"You okay?" Lindsay asked, doubled over, hands on her knees.

"I’m fine. How about you, Ray?" Michael panted, turning around. "Where’s Ray?"

"I thought he was right behind us." Lindsay said, straightening up.

Michael ran back to the door and yanked it open. Not even a floor below the landing was a large group of infected, tripping over each other as they rushed up the stairs.

"Michael. Let’s go. Going back down there would be suicide." Lindsay snapped quietly, tugging on his arm.

"He’s like my little brother. I can’t just leave him." he snapped louder than he should have. His voice echoed off the walls.

The moaned and groans of the infected got louder.

"I know. But, Ray’s smart. I’m sure he found another way out and is waiting for us at the car. Let’s go." she said, yanking his arm and tugging him back on to the roof.

The wind had picked up, blowing Lindsay’s hair around her face and Michael’s hoodie back behind him. Lindsay tugged Michael over to the fire escape and looked down. It was nothing like the fire escape that she had climbed up when they met. Instead of a metal stairs zigzagging down the building, it was a rusty looking ladder.

Michael grabbed the metal railing and swung his leg over the wall. Standing on the ladder.

"It’s not that far. You’ll be fine." Lindsay muttered to herself as she followed Michael down the ladder.

The climb down was slow. The lower down the climbed, the more moans and groans of the infected drifted up to their ears. Michael froze when he realized how close and clear they sounded. No way were those sounds coming from inside the building. He looked down and saw too many infected to count wander around the campus.

"Ow. Shit." he swore when he felt Lindsay’s foot collide with his head.

"Sorry." she whispered, putting her foot on the rung above his head. "Why did we stop?"

"Infected are down there." he whispered back.

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking with fear.

"Yeah. When we get down there. Make a run for the car, okay? Don’t look around. Don’t look back. Just run for the car. Got it?" he said, taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Yeah." she said, her voice barely drifting down to Michael.

Michael started climbing again. He dropped down off the ladder when they were just a few rungs left. He reached up and helped Lindsay down the rest of the way, glancing around nervously. The infected were far too close for comfort.

"Run." he said, pushing her towards the parking lot.

He kicked an infected in the stomach, knocking it to the ground and ran after Lindsay.

"Unlock the car!" Lindsay yelled, tugging on the door handle.

Michael fumbled for the keys in his pocket, shoving his key into the lock. Lindsay yanked the door open, kicking an infected in the chest that tried to bite her. Michael pulled his door open and looked back towards the building.

"Michael, get in the car!" she shouted, slamming her door shut.

"What about Ray?" he snapped, gripping the side of the car door.

"It doesn’t matter. If we don’t leave now, we’re dead!" she shouted, slamming her palm against the dashboard.

Michael dropped down into the car and pulled the door shut. he started the truck and put it in reverse. He hit the gas, slamming into the infected that were behind the truck.

"Hold on." he mumbled as he put the car in drive and slamming on the gas.

Lindsay gripped the handle above the door, closing her eyes tightly as the infected slammed off the sides and front of the truck.

Michael took the back road off of campus, avoiding the drive through town. He didn’t know what the town was like, but was assuming the infected on campus had come from town.

The back road was a one lane road, with trees running along both sides. Michael drove faster than he probably should have, but he wanted to put as much distance between him and Lindsay and Snider as possible.

"I can’t believe we left him." Michael snapped through gritted teeth, punching the steering wheel.

He slammed on the breaks, throwing Lindsay forward, only to be caught by her seatbelt. He put the car in park and climbed out of the car, looking back down the road.

"What are you looking for?" Lindsay said angrily, climbing out of the car and slamming the door behind her.

"What does it matter?!" he yelled, spinning around to face her. He had tears streaming down his cheeks. "I just left my little brother, my best friend, my _family_ , back there. Alone. To fend for himself! He doesn’t have what it takes to protect himself from those things! He has been relying on me for everything.”

He dropped to his knees, ramming his fist into the ground.

"Give him some credit, Michael. Ray isn’t an idiot. He’s smart. He’ll find a way out." she said, trying to keep herself calm. Nothing good would come from both of them being emotional and screaming and yelling.

Before Michael could respond, a set of headlights flashed on at them. Michael froze. Lindsay took a step back toward the car.

The car slowed to a stop a few feet behind Michael’s truck. The headlights were turned off.

"What’re you doing on the ground?" Ryan asked, climbing out of the car.

"We’re having a bit of a problem." Lindsay responded.

"Anything I can do to help?" Ryan asked.

Lindsay shook her head.

"Mikey, you okay?" Ray asked, climbing out of the car.

"Ray!" Michael said, scrambling to his feet. He pulled Ray into a bone crushing hug. "I’m sorry. I left you. I thought you were dead."

"I’m fine." the teen said, hugging him back. "I found another way out and ran into Ryan. He kept me safe."

"Thank you." Michael said, looking over at Ryan.

Ryan nodded. Michael pulled away from Ray, but kept an arm around his shoulders.

"I think it would be better if we traveled in one car." Ryan said. "Mine’s running on E anyway. Lucky it got Ray and I off campus."

"Where are we going now?" Ray asked.

"Texas." Lindsay said, before anyone else could. "It’s my home. It’s where my family is. We’re going there."

"Alright. Texas it is. You have anything in your car?" Michael asked.

Ryan went around o the backseat of his car. He pulled out a plastic tub with a backpack on top of it. “This is it.” he said, walking over t Michael’s truck. “All my things were in my lab.”

-

Lindsay sat in the front seat of the car, looking over the atlas with a small flashlight. She was marking the path they would take to Texas with a highlighter she found in the plastic bin Ryan had put in the trunk.

Ryan was leaning back in the driver seat, holding on to the steering wheel with one hand. Every few minutes he would glance over at the atlas in Lindsay lap to make sure they were on the right path.

Ray was lying across the backseat with his head resting in Michael’s lap, fast asleep. He was using his hoodie as a blanket. Occasionally he would make a small whining noise or twitch as he dreamed.

Michael sat in the backseat, fighting sleep with everything he had. One hand rested on Ray’s shoulder, rubbing gently when Ray let out a noise. His head slumped back against the headrest as sleep over took him.

"We’re gonna be fine." Lindsay thought out loud. "We’ll be just fine."


	8. Chapter 8

"I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in the backseat of this car." Ray grumbled, crossing his arms and staring out the window.

"Ray, we’re only been driving for a few hours." Michael said, glancing at the lad from the rearview mirror.

"Only a few hours today. We’ve been driving for the past two days. Shouldn’t we be in Texas by now?" he growled.

"We’re in Texas. We crossed into Texas last night." Lindsay said, from the passenger seat. "We’re only a few hours from Dallas. We just need to take this exit."

Lindsay’s talking slowed as Michael slowed the car to a stop. The exit off the highway that they needed to take was closed. Michael parked the car and climbed out of the car. Ryan followed. Lindsay opened the door and leaned out.

"Highway is jammed with cars. We can’t go that way." Michael said, standing on the off ramp looking down at the road.

"We’ll go through Austin. It’ll be better than taking the back roads." Lindsay called, pulling the atlas out from between the seats. "It might take a little longer, but it’s really easy to get lost on the back roads."

"How long will it take?" Ryan asked, heading back to the car.

"It’s only about three hours extra driving." Lindsay said, buckling her seatbelt.

Ray groaned in annoyance.

"I would rather do that, I know how to get from there to Dallas. And if we get lost on the back roads, it could be days before we find our way back to the highway. A lot of the back roads aren’t on maps.

-

"We should stop and stock up on supplies while we’re passing through here." Ryan said as they passed through a town outside of Austin. "It shouldn’t be too bad as far as the infected go."

Michael pulled the car into the downtown area of the small town. A restaurant, a chain grocery store, a local grocer, and a gas station were the closest buildings to where he parked. A few other buildings line the main street and a few of the sides streets, but nothing that could really help them.

"We’ll go everywhere but let’s start here." Ryan suggested pointing towards the convenience store.

"I’ll be in the pharmacy." Lindsay said quietly, grabbing a basket and heading for the back of the store.

Michael dropped his arm around Ray’s shoulders and the two headed off towards the other half of the store.

"You alright, little one?" Michael asked Ray. "You seem kinda moody lately."

"I’m fine." Ray said, rolling Michael’s arm off his shoulder as they walked into the store. He grabbed a basket and walked down an isle.

Michael sighed and watched Ray walk off, grabbing random things off the ransacked shelves. There was something wrong with Ray but Michael couldn’t figure out what would have upset the kid. He wished Ray would just tell him what was eating at him, maybe he could help.

Michael started loading his cart up with what he could find. A few cans of something without a labels, any food in a box or a can that wasn’t opened, bottles of juice.

It was hard to find anything in the mess of the store. Most of the shelves were empty, the floor was covered in things that had been knocked off the shelves and trampled, no doubt in the chaos of when things first started to be announced about the virus. All of the fresh foods at the front of the store had gone bad, turned green and started growing fuzz.

He turned the corner to an isle and crashed into something. It was a body. The group hadn’t bothered to check the store for infected and he had just walked into one. It was too close for Michael to reach for his gun, so he cocked his arm back and punched the thing in the face. It fell to the ground and let out a scream.

Michael pulled out his gun and pointed at the head.

"No, no, no, no, no." he shouted, pushing himself away from Michael with his feet. One hand covered his now bleeding nose, the other was behind him, holding him up.

Michael didn’t lower his gun as he took in the boy sitting on the ground at his feet. He didn’t look to be much younger than Michael. But the terrified look in his eyes made him look much younger than he was.

"Gavin!" A man yelled, tearing into the isle. It didn’t take long before he was standing behind the lad, Gavin, pointing his gun as Michael. "Put it down, kid."

"Why the fuck should I? I have no idea who the fuck you are. I don’t know if you’re gonna shoot me once I let me guard down." Michael seethed.

"What’s going on? I heard screaming!" Ryan said, sliding into the isle behind Michael.

Ray and Lindsay tore into the isle with a blonde woman and a larger man with a beard. Everyone took in the scene quickly and started talking at once.

"Gavin, what happened. Are you okay?" The blonde lady asked, kneeling beside him.

"Who screamed?" Ray asked.

"Geoff put the gun down. He’s a kid." the man with a beard said to the man who was pointing a gun at Michael.

"Michael, put the gun down. Shooting won’t solve anything." Ryan said.

"Geoff, put the gun down. Now." the lady said, putting one hand on Geoff’s leg.

"Michael, put the gun down." Lindsay yelled, tugging on the side of his hoodie. "Michael. Michael, what did you tell me when we first met? What did you tell me?"

Lindsay was talking fast and loud to ensure that Michael would hear her over everyone else’s talking and yelling.

"What did you tell me?" she yelled. "You said if you’re human you’re my family. They’re human, they’re family. Put the gun down! They’re family! You do not pull a gun on your family!"

Something visibly changed in Michael’s face. He instantly took the gun off Gavin, holding his hands up in surrender, pistol pointed at the ceiling as he turned the safety on. He slid his pistol into the back of his jeans.

"Sorry about that. Reflexes." Michael said, keeping his hands where everyone could see them.

Geoff hesitated before putting his gun into the holster on his hip.

"Are you alright, Gav?" he said, looking down at the boy on the floor.

Gavin nodded, but still looked terrified. He had moved his hands away from his face so the lady could take a look at him. His nose was streaming blood, a dark bruise was forming n the left side of his face, and he was crying. Michael felt like shit looking at the lad.

"Look, I’m really sorry, kid." Michael said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"My name’s Gavin." he said in a British accent.

"I’m Michael." he smiled.

"I’m Lindsay." she said, kneeling down next to him. She grabbed a package of paper towels off the shelf beside them and ripped it open. "I’m gonna clean you up a bit. See if I can get your nose to stop bleeding."

"I’m Griffon." the lady said, cleaning the blood off Gavin’s hands.

Ryan, Ray, and the man, Jack, introduced themselves as well.

"Are you his parents?" Lindsay asked, holding a mess of paper towels to Gavin’s nose.

"No. We’re his host family." Griffon laughed. "He’s been living with us since he was 17 so he can go to college."

"He might as well be our child." Geoff said, tousling Gavin’s hair.

Gavin smiled up at Geoff.

"Where are you staying?" Ray asked from where he sat on a few packages of toilet paper. Everyone looked over at him. "What? Am I not supposed to ask that or something? What does it matter either way? We’re just stopping here to get some supplies on our way to Dallas."

"Dallas is dead and overrun with the infected." Jack spoke up.

"What?" Lindsay asked, leaning back on her heels. Her voie shook as she talked. "No. How do you know? People made it out right? Where did the go?"

"I don’t know. Dallas is a big city. It spread fast and hard." Jack said shaking his head.

Lindsay’s lower lip trembled. She covered her mouth with her hands.

"Linds, I’m sure they’re fine." Michael said, kneeling beside Lindsay and pulling her into a hug.

"I missed something." Geoff mumbled.

"Lindsay’s parents are in Dallas." Ryan said.

"What do we do now?" Ray asked. "I don’t mean to be insensitive or anything, but we never decided what we were going to do after we checked Dallas or if something went wrong. What do we do now?"

"We’ll figure something out." Michael sighed.

"I guess we just keep moving." Ryan shrugged.

"You’ll come with us." Griffon said, cleaning the last bit of blood off of Gavin’s face. "We’ve got a cabin at the lake not too far from here. It’s safe and secluded. You can stay with us until you figure out what you’re gonna do next."

"Griffon." Geoff said, glaring at his wife.

"Geoffrey." she said back. She stood up, putting her hands on her hips. "What do you expect them to do? Stay out here without a plan to get overrun with infected."

"I’m not saying that, Grif." he sighed.

"Then what are you saying?" she interrupted.

"You can’t win this, brother. She’s already made up her mind." Jack spoke up.

Geoff sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Fine. Let’s finish getting what we came here to get and head back up to the cabin. Y’all get what you were here for and follow us up there. It’s about an hour away from here.”

"Great, more time riding in the backseat of that stupid fucking car." Ray grumbled, walking off, away from everyone else.

"Ray." Michael said with a sigh, rising to his feet. "Ray!"

"I’ll go after him. Make sure he doesn’t hurt himself." Ryan said, heading off in the lad’s wake.

-

Ray was sitting on the floor in what used to be one of the gluten-free food isles. He was tracing patterns in the gluten-free flour that had busted on the floor.

"Hi." Ryan said, sitting down across the isle from him.

Ray looked up from the flour at the man, but didn’t say anything.

"I’m not exactly good at this talking thing. My job never really involved interacting with the students of the university." Ryan started. "I know something’s eating at you though. And I know you most likely won’t tell me. But I might be able to help you, if you decide to talk to me."

Ray opened his mouth, ready to tell the man what was wrong, but decided against it and shut his mouth.

"I didn’t think you would. But we should get back to looting this place." he said, standing up.

He held a hand out to Ray. When Ray didn’t move, he knelt down and scooped the lad up, setting him down in a nearby cart.

-

Gavin saw on the back porch of the lake house, staring up at the stars. It was his favourite thing about the lake house. It was almost pitch black outside at night and there were millions of stars in the sky. Last time Geoff brought him and Griffon up there, Geoff spent hours sitting by the camp fire teaching him about the stars and constellations.

Now, the back porch was the only place in the cabin that wasn’t over crowded with people. Jack was in the living room. Geoff was sat at the dinning room table, teaching Michael how to properly clean and reassemble his gun. Lindsay was helping Griffon in the kitchen. Ray and Ryan were in Gavin’s bedroom, which he was now forced to share with Ray and Michael.

Normally, when the cabin was crowded with people he would go down to the lake and skip rocks until the people left. But Geoff didn’t want him wandering off alone and after what had happened in town a few days ago, he didn’t want to go anywhere alone. Not that they would be gone when he came back to the cabin.

Gavin reached up and touched the bruise on the side of his face. It was still sore and swollen. Michael had a pretty mean right hook. He let himself back into the house and went into the living room. He settled himself into one of the chairs by the fire Jack had started, pulled his legs up to his chest, and watched the fire burn. It’s not like there was much else he could do.


	9. Chapter 9

Ray was having a hard time sleeping, which wasn't surprising. Since they had started staying with the Ramsey's in their cabin in the woods two nights ago, Ray had had trouble sleeping. It was so quite every little noise woke him up. Michael, Ryan, Jack, and Geoff all kept reassuring him that they were safe, but he had hard time believing it. Michael said that St. James University would be safe and he almost died there.

He was in the second bed in Gavin's room, almost asleep when he heard a noise that woke him up. He sat up and put his glasses on, looking out the window above the bed that Gavin was in. It was too dark to see anything.

Michael was lying on the floor in between the beds, with just a blanket and a pillow as his bed. He and Gavin were both fast asleep.

"Michael." Ray said, after he heard the noise again.

Michael didn't respond.

"Michael." he said a little louder.

Michael pushed himself up on his elbows and looked up at Ray, rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong, little one?"

"I keep hearing something." he said, knowing that he sounded like a scared child.

"Are you sure it wasn't just me snoring?" Michael teased sitting up and grabbing his glasses out of his trainer.

"I'm serious."

"Fine. I'll go check it out." Michael said, standing up.

He tugged on his jeans, not bothering to fasten his belt and grabbed his pistol off the chair in the corner.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." he said, venturing out into the hall.

He checked the bathroom and Geoff and Griffon's room. Both were fine. He headed out into the living room, where Lindsay was fast asleep on the couch. In the dinning room, Jack and Ryan were both asleep on either side of the coffee table. The kitchen was fine too. He grabbed a flashlight off the kitchen counter, flipped it on, and eased open the sliding glass door.

It was cold when he stepped outside, and he wished he had thought to put shoes on as he walked across the wooden deck. He shined his light into the woods, and couldn't see anything.

He heard something move on the deck and quickly spun around, pointing both his gun and his flashlight at where the sound was coming from.

"What are you doing out here?" Geoff asked, not seeming phased by the gun in his face.

Michael pointed his gun in the air and flipped the safety on before dropping his hands to hi side.

"Ray thought he heard something. I was checking it out. Why are you out here?"

Geoff took a drag from a cigarette and flicked the butt off the porch.

"Alright, fair enough." Michael shrugged.

"We're safe out here, Michael. I've checked the other cabins, they're empty. We're too far from the town to be in any danger. We're fine. Go back inside. Get some sleep." Geoff said, following the lad inside and locking the sliding glass door.

Michael walked quietly back to his room, glancing over at Lindsay on the couch on his way back, just to make sure she was okay. He heard the door to Geoff and Griffon's room close as he walked back into his.

"Everything's fine, little one." Michael said, setting his gun and flashlight on the chair.

"You sure?" he asked, fidgeting with the edge of the comforter.

"I'm positive." he said, taking his jeans off.

"Thank you for checking." Ray said quietly. He felt like an ass waking Michael up in the middle of the night for nothing.

"It's no problem, little one." Michael said, taking Ray's glasses from him and tucking him in.

Michael laid back down on the floor and tugged his blankets up over him. He slid his glasses back into his trainers and tried to go back to sleep.

"Michael?" Ray said, quietly. "We're safe right?"

"Of course we're safe. We've got Ryan, Jack, and Geoff to protect us if something happens. Plus you've got me. You don't have anything to worry about, little one." Michael yawned.

Ray nodded, knowing that Michael couldn't see him and rolled on to his side. They were safe out in the woods. The sounds were just the sounds of the woods. Just the wind in the trees and little animals running around.

"Michael?" he said again.

"Scoot over." Michael said, pushing on his back.

Ray moved closer to the wall and felt the bed sag when Michael climbed into the bed with him, pulling him to his chest.

"We're fine, little one. Get some sleep." he said, dropping his arm over Ray's chest. "I'll protect you. That's a promise."

Ray rolled on to his other side, facing Michael, and hugged the older lad tightly. He liked that Michael was protecting him. He hated that he was acting like a needy toddler and wanted so badly for Michael to make some joke to defuse the tension. He thought about making some stupid joke himself, but just cuddled closer to Michael and tried to sleep.

-

Michael was glad when Ray woke up around nine. He had been lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep for the last hour, not wanting to get out of bed and disturb the lad.

"I smell food." Ray said, rubbing his eyes.

Michael climbed out of the bed and tugged his jeans on. Ray put his glasses on and put his jeans on.

"Let's go see what's being cooked up for breakfast." Michael said, grabbed his glasses and heading for the dinning room.

Ryan, Jack, Griffon, and Lindsay were sitting at the table talking and drinking coffee. Michael said his good mornings and headed into the kitchen for coffee.

Geoff was standing at the stove, making eggs and bacon. Gavin sat on the counter, manning the toaster.

"We're going fishing later." Gavin said with a smile. "You wanna come?"

"Sure. Sounds fun." Michael said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"I don't know how to fish." Ray said, leaning against the doorway.

"It's easy." Lindsay spoke up, stepping around him on her way to the coffee. "My dad used to take my and my two sisters out all the time."

"Then you go in my place." he sighed, walking into the dining room.

"I didn't say I liked fishing. I said it was easy." Lindsay said, stirring some milk into her coffee. "My father used to drag us out on to the lake. I hated it. It was Arryn who liked it. I think my father wanted boys."

"It can be just the three of us and Griffon then. No one else wants to go." Gavin said, buttering a piece of toast.

"Sounds good." Michael said, walking into the dining room.

"All good with the toast, kid?" Geoff asked.

Gavin nodded, sliding off the counter and picking up the plate of toast. Geoff grabbed the frying pan full of scrambled eggs and the plate of bacon and they walked into the dining room.

-

"Are you sure there are fish in this lake?" Michael asked, casting his line out again.

"I've caught fish in it before." Geoff said, bating Gavin's line for him.

"I caught a fish." Gavin said, casting his line.

"Yeah, but you let it go." Griffon said, reeling in her line. "We're not fishing for fun, we're fishing for food."

"I'll keep the next one." he sighed, staring at the water.

"That's all I ask. If we catch enough I can fry then up for dinner tonight." she smiled.

"Geoff, I thought you said that there wasn't anyone else at the lake." Michael said, checking his line. The hook was empty.

"It is. It's the off season. No one comes up during the fall." he said, holding his pole between his knees as he reached for Michael's hook to rebate it.

"Than who's that?" Michael asked, pointing at a figure two docks over from them.

Geoff let go of Michael's line and stood up, holding his pole so it wouldn't fall into the water. He shaded his eyes from the sun and stared at the figure Michael was pointing at.

"Go up to the house." he said, setting his pole down in the weeds.

"What's wrong?" Gavin asked.

"Be quiet and do as I say. Go up to the house." Geoff said.

"Come on." Michael said, dropping his pole and grabbing Gavin's shoulder. He dragged him up the hill towards the cabin.

"Geoff." Griffon said.

"Do as I say." he said, firmly. "Go up to the house. I'll be up in a minute."

Griffon sighed and headed up the hill.

Michael stood on the back deck, staring down at the lake. Gavin was inside and Griffon was making her way up the hill. Geoff was standing in the tall grass by the lake looking around. Michael did the same from where he stood.

He hoped that it was just one stray infected wandered away from a campsite somewhere in the woods. Michael saw a few more infected in the tree line near the cabin closet to theirs, which really wasn't that close.

It didn't take long for Geoff to spot them and come running up the hill, grabbing Griffon's arm as he ran by her, tugging her up on to the porch.

"Geoff, what's going on?" Griffon asked, rubbing her arm where he had been holding on too tight.

Michael tapped her arm and pointed at the tree line.

"Go kill them." Griffon said, stepping closer to the cabin.

"We need to pack up and leave. There are more across the lake." Geoff said, pointing at the tree line in the distance. He grabbed Michael by his shoulder, put his hand on Griffon's back, and pushed them into the house. "Grif, get Lindsay and Gavin pack up all the food into the back of your car. Michael, get Ray and pack up what you think we'll need. Have Ryan do the same. Put that stuff in your car. Jack and I will handle weapons. Work fast and quietly."

-

The cars were packed in a matter of minutes with no order whatsoever and they were on the road. Geoff was leading with Griffon in the passenger seat and Gavin in the back. Ryan was driving Griffon's car with Jack. Michael was behind with Ray and Lindsay.

As they left the lake, they saw more and more infected making their way through the woods in groups of two and three.

Griffon sighed and took Geoff's free hand, squeezing it tightly. Now that they didn't have a place to stay and things were worse than they seemed, she was more than scared. She was terrified. But she didn't dare show it. She could feel Gavin sitting in the back seat, looking from Geoff, to Griffon, out the window, and back again. If she even showed one hint of being scared, Gavin would go off the deep end. No, she would keep her brave face until Gavin was asleep and it was just hurt and Geoff.


	10. Chapter 10

Gavin sat on a low branch of a tree, watching through the branches as Jack, Geoff, Griffon, and Ryan talked while hunched over a map on the hood of one of the cars. Ray was still asleep in the backseat of Michael's car. Michael and Lindsay had wandered off together into the trees that lined the sides of the gravel road, doing things Gavin didn't even want to think about.

It had been a little over 24 hours since they had to leave the cabin and they had no plan whatsoever. Ryan had been monitoring the radio frequencies, but nothing was playing except static.

From where he sat, Gavin couldn't hear anything except the wind blowing through the leaves in the tree. He saw Geoff sigh and fold up the map, tossing it in through the open window of his car.

"Gavin, what the hell are you doing in a tree?" Jack asked, standing underneath the lad.

"I didn't want to be the car anymore." he said, holding on to the branch and he dropped his legs down.

"That doesn't really answer my question." the man responded, reaching up and grabbing Gavin's waist, helping the lad to the ground.

"Yes, it does." he laughed headed for the car.

"Gav, where are Michael and Lindsay?" Geoff asked, standing in the open door of the car.

Gavin pointed at the trees. Geoff opened his mouth to call out for them, but shut it, not wanting to attract any infected that might be lurking in the area.

A few moments later Michael and Lindsay walked out of the woods, both looking disheveled.

"You're shirt's inside out." Gavin told Michael.

Michael looked down at his shirt and shrugged. "It happens. So what are we doing? Where are we going?" He asked, turning his attention to Geoff.

"We've decided to avoid major cities until we hear anything. We're pretty much going to be traveling for a while." Geoff explained. "We're gonna start by heading for the CDC in Atlanta. See what's happening there. They are probably people still working there. They should know where we can go."

"We're almost in New Mexico. That's like two days drive from here." Michael argued.

"It's only sixteen hours or something."

"You wanna wake Ray up and tell him that he's going to be spending the next sixteen hours in the back of a car? He'll flip his shit. I'll go fucking insane driving for sixteen hours straight. We can't just drive it straight though, Geoff."

"Michael's right." Griffon weighed in. "We're gonna need to stop so we can all get some rest. Get some food in us. Stretch our legs. Just get out of the car."

"So how long are we gonna be driving until we stop?" Gavin asked.

"We'll stop ever five hours or something." Geoff said, heading for the driver seat of the car. "Let's head out."

-

Ray hated being stuck in the backseat of Michael's car. It was cramped. He felt like Michael and Lindsay's child. He was in a car for hours on end. Lindsay had offered to let sit in the front seat a few times, when he started complaining about feeling sick. But truthfully, he felt fine. He was just hoping that by complaining they would pull over for a few minutes like they did whenever Gavin started feeling sick.

Being in the front seat next to Michael had been a little better than being in the back. There was more leg room, and he didn't feel like a little kid anymore. He had hoped that Lindsay would fall asleep so he could talk to Michael about what had been bothering him. But Lindsay wasn't tired and she would leaned forward and participate in Ray and Michael's conversation.

"Mikey, when are we stopping?" Ray asked, kicking his feet.

"Soon, little one. Just calm down." Michael said, absently.

"But, Mikey. I want to be in the car anymore." he whined, still kicking his feet.

"I know. I do too. But throwing a fit won't help anything."

"I want to get out!" he yelled, ramming a fist into the door.

Michael pulled into the shoulder of the road and put the car in park. He hit the horn once to tell Geoff that they were stopping. Geoff and Ryan pulled the other two cars over to the side of the road.

"Are you finished?" Michael asked after a moment.

Ray nodded, wiping the tears away from his eyes with the back of his hand.

"What just happened?" he asked

"I just don't want to be in the car anymore." he said, staring down at his hands in embarrassment and frustration.

Geoff knocked on Michael's window. Ryan was standing behind him. Michael rolled down the window.

"Is everything alright?" Geoff asked.

"Yeah, just a bit of an incident." Michael said, glancing back at Ray.

Ray looked up nervously. He met Ryan's gaze and looked back down at hi hands.

"It's getting late. Shouldn't we be finding a place to stay for the night?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, there's a drive through town just a few miles up. There should be a hotel or something we can find to stay in for the night." Geoff said, looking around them.

The sun was starting to hang low in the sky. They had gotten out of the wooded area and were currently driving through farming country. The sides of the road were lined with wheat fields.

"Let's get going. We need to get there before dark." Ryan said, glancing at Ray before heading back to his car.

-

Ray was happy to be out of the car, and even happier to be in a place with heat and electricity, rather than sleeping in the car again. The small hotel was completely empty and really clean, considering everything that had happened.

They had chosen the three rooms at the end of the hall on the second floor of the hotel. Geoff, Griffon, and Gavin were in one room. Ray, Michael, and Lindsay were in the second. Jack and Ryan were in the third room.

"Are you alright, little one?" Michael asked, lying in one of the beds of the hotel room.

The hotel's cable package was still in place, and Michael had chosen a movie from the list that were prerecorded, so they could listen to something other than static.

"I'm fine. I'm glad that we're here. Even just for one night. It's warm here." he smiled, bouncing on his bed.

The sound of Lindsay singing quietly in the shower, drifted out from the bathroom.

"What happened today? Back in the car?" Michael asked.

"It doesn't matter." he said, dropping down on the bed.

"Ray," he said, sitting up.

"Please, let it go." he said, crawling under the covers.

Ray took off his glasses and rolled away from Michael, tugging the covers up to is chin.

Michael sighed and laid back down, looking over at Ray. The lad was lying with his back to him. Ray had been acting strange since they left the farm house in Pennsylvania. Michael wanted to talk to him about it, but the two had never really been the type to have deep conversations. They had had before but something about this time was different.

"A hot shower has never felt better." Lindsay said, walking out of the bathroom. She was wearing one of Michael's spare shirts that barely covered her underwear. She was drying her hair with one of the hotel's towels.

Michael nodded in agreement. The lake house's water came from a well. Griffon was worried about the well running dry, so water was reversed for drinking and cooking. Geoff suggested swimming in the lake to clean off, but the lake had been too cold to swim in.

Lindsay tossed the towel into the bathroom and crawled next to Michael, cuddling up to his side. Michael took off his glasses, and turned out the light. He kept the movie playing for some form of background noise, even though he no longer cared about it.

Michael was more concerned about falling asleep. They were in a strange town, they were very close to the stairwell. But yeah, the hotel was empty and as far as they could tell the town was too. But after the incident at the university, Michael was very wary of new places.


	11. Chapter 11

_There is nothing worse than getting a letter saying that your loved one isn’t coming home from warm. But there is something worse for the soldiers overseas. Getting the “Dear John” letter. The letter saying that you wife is leaving your or has cheated on you._

_Some people, like Geoff, are secure in their relationships and know they will never get the dreaded letter. Then there are they people who get the letters that think they never will._

_Jack sits on the edge of his cot, staring down at the letter in his hands. The paper is filled with his wife’s bubbly, cursive hand-writing. A letter he didn’t expect to get. His wife of almost four years, and high school sweetheart, is leaving him. She can’t handle never seeing him and him always being away on deployment._

_Jack can’t believe what he is reading. He has been in the Army with Geoff for almost three years now, and he is only on his second deployment. Caiti and Jack are hardly ever apart from each other. Just basic training, schooling, and his first deployment. All together it only adds up to a eighteen months._

_Jack wants to much to believe that Caiti truly can’t be away from him and that’s why he got the letter. But a voice in the back of his head keeps saying the more probable answer is that Caiti cheated on him and is leaving him to that guy._

_-_

_Back on the home front, things aren’t the same. Geoff, Jack, Griffon, and Caiti all rented a house together just off base in Leavenworth, Kansas. It was a small house and kind of shitty, but it’s all they could afford at 22 years old._

_The house seemed so empty now that Caiti was gone. Every trace of her had disappeared from the house, as if she had never been there to begin with. Griffon tried her best o make the house seem lively, but it was obvious something was missing._

-

"What you thinking so hard about?" Geoff asked, pulling Jack from his thoughts.

Getting bored in driving with the same people, everyone decided to switch cars. Geoff and Jack we’re still leading. Ryan, Griffon, and Ray were behind them. Michael, Lindsay, and Gavin were bringing up the rear.

"Do you remember the Leavenworth house?" Jack asked.

"Of course. Besides the barracks it was the first place we lived after we left our parents houses." he smiled at the memories. "What about it?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about it. It was the only house I lived in besides my parents." he sighed.

"That’s not true."

"Yeah it is. After Caiti left and our duty station was changed, I went back to living the barracks. Then I got the apartment in Austin after my contract was up."

"Aw, naw. Don’t go thinking about Caiti, now. Those thought’s ain’t nothing but trouble." Griffon spoke up from the backseat.

"I can’t help it. She was my wife. The only woman I ever loved." Jack argued. "I can’t help but wonder what happened to her after we separated and after all this happened."

"She probably remarried someone. Had a kid or two with him. Lived in a nice little house with a picket fence. They probably all died when this happened." Griffon remarked.

"What?" Geoff asked, confused.

"I’m being realistic. She probably did al hat and most people died when the infection took over."

Jack stared out the window as the passing trees, letting Griffon and Geoff’s talking fade into the background. He wondered what life would have been like if Caiti hadn’t left. They would have gotten a house together, probably in the same neighborhood as Geoff and Griffon. They probably would have had a baby by now. He would be driving around trying to keep his family safe. Instead of fighting for Geoff and his family.


	12. Chapter 12

"Welcome to Atlanta." Geoff read the sign on the side of the highway.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Griffon asked, surveying the road they were driving on. "Atlanta is a big city, bigger than Austin and barely anyone made it out of Austin."

The highway, like most was divided in half by a concert median. The half of the high way leading out of the city was filled with cars, bumper to bumper. Some cars were empty, the doors left ajar, others there were infected inside, paying no attention to the three cars driving down the completely empty side of the highway leading into the city.

"We'll be fine. We're gonna let Jack drive, since he knows the way around. If things get sketchy, we'll be gone." Geoff promised, glancing into the back seat at his wife.

"It's getting late, let's hurry up and get there already. I don't want to be in an overpopulated city after nightfall." she sighed, still staring out at the windows.

The sun was setting quickly behind them, casting long shadows over everything, making the drive through the city eerier than it actually was. What was most unnerving about the drive was the amount of infected that wandered through the streets. There wasn't a corner they rounded or a street they drove down that didn't have at least five infected and twice that number of dead bodies.

All the other places they had been through, the most that they saw through the whole city was twenty. They saw more of that in the first five minutes after entering the city. But until then, they had been avoiding the major cities for that exact reason.

Fifteen minutes of unsettlingly silent driving and they were pulling on to the street that circled around the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. They were driving down the wrong side of the road as the pulled up to the front entrance.

"It looks dead." Michael said, standing in the open door of his SUV.

"Yeah, but there are no infected around. That has to be a good sign." Lindsay said, staying in the car with Ray and Gavin.

"Stay here. I'm gonna check the doors." Geoff said, climbing out of the car and jogging up to the doors. He went down the line, tugging on the doors, until one of the ones in the middle opened. He disappeared inside the building.

"Mikey?" Ray said, stepping out of the car.

"Get back in the car, little one." he said, absently, staring at the building.

Ray ignored the order and stepped closer to the man, their arms brushing up against each other.

"It's gonna be fine." Michael said, wrapping his left arm around Ray's shoulders.

Geoff emerged from the building and jogged back over to the cars.

"Well?" Ryan asked, walking up beside Geoff.

"The place seems almost deserted. But I checked the stairwell and there were some lights on. I think there might be some people or were some people down there." he explained. "I was going to check it out but I didn't want to leave y'all up here."

"Are we gonna check it out?" Michael asked, rubbing Ray's arm. He could sense that the lad was getting anxious again.

"Do we really have another choice?" Griffon spoke up. "It's gonna be really dark really soon and I don't want to be stuck out here in the dark."

"Alright. Grab what you'll need for tonight, that includes weapons." Geoff instructed. "We'll figure out what to do later come morning."

They gathered a few things from the cars and followed Geoff inside. Inside the CDC was really dark, the only light coming in from the glass front wall and the exit signs. The floor was covered in discarded papers and a few lab coats.

"Come on. It was this way." Geoff said, pointing his flashlight at the floor. He kept his pistol in hand with the safety off, just incase.

The hallway they ventured down was darker than the lobby and the floors were covered in more things. Papers, come medical and lab equipment. A few of the doors were open, but inside of the rooms were far too dark to see anything.

At the end of the hallway there was a staircase around the corner. A few floors down, some light was leaking up through the stairwell.

"I'm scared." Gavin mumbled as everyone stared down the stairwell.

"It'll be fine. Come on." Geoff tried to reassuring him.

It was four floors down before the reached where the light was coming from. Just a few of the over head lights were lit with a dull glow.

"Probably emergency lights." Ryan said, looking down the hallway.

The lights led off down the hallway and around a left turn. Ryan made his way to the front of the group and followed the lights around the corner. The ended up walking down another stairwell to a steel door, that Ryan pulled open.

The room behind the door was huge. To the left was a cafeteria style room with a dozen tables and a door leading into a kitchen. To the right was a set of glass double doors that led into a room full of computers and monitors. At the end of the cafeteria was a large hallway.

There was garbage on some of the tables, old food on the counter, and some of the computer monitors were still on.

"What is this place?" Michael asked, venturing towards the doors of the kitchen.

"Looks like an industrial fallout shelter." Jack said, opening the doors to the computer lab.

"That's exactly what it is." Ryan explained, shutting the steel door once everyone was inside. "The CDC plans for all kinds of things. This fallout shelter was set in place probably in the 1960's when everyone was worried about polio and the nuclear apocalypse. It was set up so the scientists and researchers could continue on with their experiments and research while the world crumpled around them. I don't doubt that a lot of them were down here working at the beginning of all of this."

"If people were down here working, where are they now?" Lindsay asked.

"I couldn't begin to tell you." he shrugged.

"Can we look around?" Gavin asked, standing in the opening to the hallway.

"Be careful." Geoff said with a nod.

-

Everybody had pretty much gone their own ways around the shelter. Jack found himself in the computer laboratory. There were notebooks and open files all over the desks. He couldn't really make much sense of what was writing in the files and notebooks. The lack of sleep was getting to him. He had to read the first sentence on the piece of paper in his hands three times to realize that whoever typed it up was writing about the outbreak.

Jack started gathering up the files and notebooks, figuring he and Ryan could go over them, see if they found any interesting information or anything that would help them in the long run.

-

Geoff shouldn't have been surprised by the amount of food that was stockpiled in the pantry, walk in fridge, and walk in freezer. But he was. It wasn't hard for him to find something for them to eat. He made spaghetti because it was quick and easy.

While he cooked he through about the possibility of them just staying in the CDC fallout shelter until supplies ran out. It would be easy enough. There was enough food to keep them all alive for months, if not the next year. They could find the generator and see how much fuel it would take to keep everything lit. It was safe. Everyone sure seemed to like the safety of it.

But something out staying in the CDC shelter didn't seem like the best idea to Geoff. It wasn't their place to stay and they were beyond invading.

-

"There's a game room. It's got the classic stand up arcade games. It's awesome." Ray smiled, stuffing another forkful of pasta into his mouth.

"What I found is even better." Lindsay said. "Showers. Granted I think they might be hazmat showers, but I don't care. They've got hot, running water and soap."

"I think I'll take the games." Michael put in.

"No, you're gonna take a shower. We all are." Griffon said.

Geoff walked into the room, holding a fifth of whiskey in one hand and two bottles of wine in the other.

"Can I have a drink?" Gavin asked, staring at the bottles.

"Sure, why not. It's the end of the world. We might as well live it up, at least for one night." Geoff said, pouring a glass of whiskey.

Glasses of wine and whiskey were passed around the table and soon enough the bottles were beginning to empty and everyone was laughing and giggling.

"Are you sure you don't want a drink, little one?" Michael asked.

"I'm fine." he said, pushing his chair back. "I'm tired, I'm just gonna go to bed."

-

Ryan had tried sleeping after he showered, but he couldn't seem to fall asleep. It wasn't that they weren't safe, because they were. And even when they weren't safe, he slept fine. The alcohol in is system should have been helping him fall asleep, but that wasn't the case tonight.

So instead of being curled up in the nice warm, queen sized bed, he was sitting at the desk across the room, pouring over the notebooks and files that Jack had brought him from the computer lab earlier that evening.

One of the things that caught his eye the most was a journal written by one of the researchers. It was clear that whomever was keeping the journal had been keeping records of their research for a while. The events that were written about dated back for almost a month before. At least ten of the most recent pages were strictly about the infection. Most of the documents were as well.

Ryan was so absorbed in the reading that he barely heard the knock on his room.

"It's open." he called out, looking up at the door.

Ray pushed the door open, but didn't enter. He was dressed in his pajamas, and his hoodie.

"Have you seen Mikey?" Ray asked, wiping a tear off his cheek.

"Last I saw he went off somewhere with Lindsay after dinner." he answered. "Are you okay?"

"I just had a bad dream." he said quietly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, leaning back in the desk chair.

The teen shrugged, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Do you want to stay here tonight?"

"Do you mind?" Ray asked, nervously.

"Not at all." he admitted. "You can take the bed. I doubt I'll be sleeping tonight anyway."

Ray closed the door behind him as he made his way over to the bed, climbing under the covers.

"What are you reading?" he asked, making himself comfortable.

"Just those papers that Jack brought me. It's a lot of research about the infection."

"Really? Anything useful." he asked, rubbing his eyes, trying to get the tears to stop and the dream from his mind.

"A lot of stuff we already know. Most of this research was broadcasted already."

Ryan picked up the notebook that doubled as one of the researchers journals and flipped through it, skimming but never really reading much into the entries. It was someone's personal journal and it felt like an invasion of privacy to read about it. Plus, most of what was written in it wasn't anything helpful.

The researcher talked about how he missed being at home with his new wife and the dog they adopted together. A shelter mutt called Stains. He talked about a few other researchers who he didn't get along well with and the intern who kept checking him out.

One thing that caught Ryan's eye was when he started talking about some of the things they were working on in the labs. One entry, dated the day everything started, was a detailed description of what he saw while working on a patient who came in with a bit on his shoulder. The man got sicker and sicker, fever spiking to over 115 degrees, his heart racing, before he died in the hospital bed. The researcher covered him up with the sheet after pronouncing him dead. Fifteen minutes later while he wheeled the man down to the morgue, he sat up, groaning quietly. The researcher tried to examine the man, strapping the man down to the bed, before giving up after almost being bitten half a dozen times. He went through various ways of trying to euthanize the man before getting frustrated and stabbing the man in the head with a screw driver. He quickly disposed of the body in the incinerator and didn't tell anyone about the incident after the man was pronounced dead.

Ryan marked the page in the journal and closed it. There were still another twenty pages written after that event. If the other entries were anything like the one he just read, he would want to read the others, but when he wasn't so drunk. He went back to reading the case folders about people who came in with a bit from the infected.


End file.
